Reading the fucking amazing Provenance by Ann Leckie, author of the Ancillary Trilogy.

She is, easily, the heir to Iain Banks. This is a standalone set in the same universe as her trilogy. I hope she keeps doing this...and getting further and further away from the trilogy.

What made The Culture great was that Banks never connected the stories (except, occasionally, with a brief mention). The Culture was so vast that the books were set all across the universe, and occasionally thousands of years apart. The characters and events in the previous book didn't matter because you'd be joining new people a million lightyears away, and maybe 500 years in the past or future, on their own adventure.

Leckie has to fight her trilogy. This book is haunted by the events of the trilogy's finale. It's done correctly -- of course the galaxy-shattering events of the trilogy's finale would be in the news and social media -- but it's a tie that binds. After this, I want Leckie to do what Banks did. Stay in the universe but go backwards, or forwards, or so far away it doesn't matter what's happening on the news.

Smale's alt-history trilogy has been pretty awesome so far. 11th Century imperial Romans conquering North America before the hordes of Genghis Khan can do so.

Over a thousand pages of this saga so far and the conflicted life of an aging refugee general (who is our main character) is starting to wear a touch thin. Though we're in finale country now with a crowded stage, so that should save the series.

The trilogy was bad to begin with, but EMP apocalypse is fun -- no power, everyone's in the dark, cannibal marauders. The usual. Book one was a short, fast read.

The author is a right wing survivalist nutjob. He credits himself for "starting the prepper movement," and some of thi began to soak into the second book which, nonetheless, was about 40% all out war with government troops. So that was fun.

The final book, though, is a nearly 600 page, small-print, maudlin tome that's pure fan service to the preppers. Terrible.

The Expanse is my all time favorite sci-fi series so far. Book 7 marks the beginning of the end, though. The books are actually loosely organized into "trilogies," with book 6 ending the most recent arc with a bang. So book 7 begins the "final trilogy" and, jarringly, it makes a 30 year leap into the future. Something I wasn't prepared for, so it's been a rough start. That also means that it's almost stepping in as prologue to this new universe, three decades after the events we've been following for the last six books.

That feels both awkward and...interesting. It's like The Last Jedi of the Expanse series. All the old shit is out the window and it's a brave, new world for humanity. Looking back at the catastrophic events of book six, I realize that there was no way to stay in the present day with our heroes. A 30 year jump is the only thing that makes sense. So...we'll see how I feel as I roll through it.

This is a short, fast read. It's getting lots of press, but all it really tells you is that life sucks and then you die, shut up and accept that fact. Also, if you hate something, then change it. We could probably put the same advice together, with wittier prose, if we consolidate everyone's replies to me in my various "I hate my life/job" threads here on GS.

The other book is a popcorn beach read. Also getting rave reviews, I find it somewhat pedestrian: IQ. A black Sherlock Holmes from the hood. All hip-hop and hipster cool. A little too much so...

Coates “we Were Eight Years in Power” is great but as a collection of essays is easy to dip in and out of.

I moved on to ‘Only Yesterday,’ an informal history of the U.S. in the 1920s written in 1931. Reading a contemporary history of the 20s uniformed by WWII is fascinating. There’s this immediacy to it and a recognition of just how quickly culture and technology evolved in that decade. It also puts importance on people and events that are now all but lost to history.